Castle Crashers Remastered is an outstanding brawler that has some addictive progression hooks built in, creative levels and enemies and is best experienced with a group of friends where you can laugh and rib one another through the experience.

As a huge rugby league fan, Rugby League Live 3 is a fun, serviceable Rugby League simulator that any fan of the game would enjoy playing. This is no EA FIFA production for sure, because you're not going to find sports that are much more niche on a global scale than rugby league, but it's genuinely good to see that sports like this do get dedicated support from passionate developers.

Although not the most imaginative take on the genre, Brave Tank Hero could have been a thoroughly respectable tank combat game and a breath of fresh air in the Wii U’s library. What’s on offer, however, is so haphazardly executed that it tanks at every turn.

However, the real strength in this one is the way the various fascinating stories of fascinating heroes is retold, and as a result of that Samurai Warriors 4-II is one of the best games in the series for some time.

The story is overdone, the gameplay is bad, and the grammar is atrocious. Even the most dedicated of hidden object fans would be unhappy with this title.

It’s immersive and exciting, and for each battle you really feel like a commander in charge of an army fighting for your country against an enemy which threatens your freedom. Witching Hour Studios have a resounding success on its hands, and no fan of strategy should pass this one up.

Etrian Mystery Dungeon is a terrible Etrian Odyssey game, missing the point entirely in what an Etrian Odyssey game is meant to offer. But as a roguelike, it is such a clean, traditional example of the genre that I found it very difficult to put down.

The control system is also too limited. There are no advanced playmaking tactics, and no way to have an individual pull fakes or dummies in order to skip past an opposition tackle. Rugby Nations 16 behaves like a sports game from the PlayStation One/ Nintendo 64 era of gaming, where you'd have a full 3D field to play on, but beyond basic pass commands you weren't able to do much with it.

There is still room for improvement, but now the title is more than a foundation - it is a full game with a great deal for hockey fans to appreciate.

If loads of jump scares or action are your thing, SOMA might disappoint. It takes its time, is even a little self indulgent, but more than anything it wants you to actually think about what's going on. If you are going to come for this one come for the excellent writing, voice acting and atmosphere.

Velocity 2X is an awesome example of how shoot ‘em up and platformer can share a coexistence.

Although I wish it did a better job of being captivating for more than a stage or two at a time, those exhausted with 2D brawlers ought to give it a go because of its unorthodox gameplay quirks and pulsating atmosphere.

Gotcha Racing benefits from an addicting mechanic that elevates what would otherwise be a decidedly average top-down racing game for the 3DS. Racing in short bursts to acquire more visits to the machine is the primary hook here, and it works well enough but I do wish there was a bit more mileage to get out of the racing component itself.

Certainly it is aimed squarely at a niche audience, but anyone who can get past that weird cultural quirk that we have in the west where sexytimes are somehow meant to be completely inappropriate in games should find themselves having a grand old time here.

Unfortunately enough time has passed since the last C&C game that I would have liked to see a few more risks taken, because I don't see the newer generation of RTS fans biting with this one.

All that I Am Bread has achieved is to be a mildly frustrating but mildly attractive game that will disappoint any Kafka fan that is baited into giving it a go based on its title.

Losing the online integration hurts, and because of this the Wii U version is the superior one by a significant margin, despite looking inferior.

Not only it is intuitive but extremely fun to get into and navigate your way around it.

The Golf Club Collector's Edition is a very polished version of the game that came out last year. It has all of the necessary patches, some new tools, a great new tropical theme and a season mode that I personally had been pining for.

All in all SMITE offers up a refreshing take on the MOBA genre. It is not a genre I spend a lot of time with, but I can already say that I have found SMITE to be more to my liking than any of the others I have played so far.

Even though that narrative isn't quite of a quality we want to see, it's a step forward for the new franchise, and after the bugs are fixed up, Evoland 2 will be a whole lot of simple, but effective, fun.

What you are getting with Metal Gear Solid V is hours upon hours of the vision of one of the most creative and artistic directors in video game history.

Unlike the PC version, which has been on Steam for a few months, there is no online component or a track creator. There’s not a big sense of creativity in the track design or even the game design, it’s all run of the mill kart racer, which is disappointing as the Xbox One has the most limited range of games in this particular genre.

A remarkable game that only just falls short of what many have been dreaming of for 30-odd years.

Between the various modes, the online options, the huge cast of unlockable and upgradeable characters, you will not lack for things to do.

Mad Max's greatest strength is in many ways the title's most significant weakness as well. It is immediately familiar, reminding of the Batman titles and Shadow of Mordor - games that I am very much a fan of. Unfortunately on the whole, Mad Max is not as good as those titles either, coming up short in its narrative, controls and combat to create a less engaging overall experience than those titles.

Armello really does a very good job of blending board game mechanics with video game technology to create a fun experience that should appeal to fans of both.

This is clearly one of those times the developers couldn’t be bothered to put enough time and effort into the PC version to make it function properly at a basic level.

There are enough changes in a variety of places that make this the best offering the series has had in several years and should satisfy new fans, yearly players and those who fall somewhere in between.

Amnesia offers a solid narrative which you don’t need to be an otome-game fan to appreciate. There are issues with the way the story is told which might raise some eyebrows, and the plot is certainly melodramatic at times, but the art and music really carry the player along towards the memorable ending.

Other than some lacklustre game modes and online play (that may or may not get extra players on it in the future), there is no real incentive to get Boggle on the PlayStation 4. The controls work well, and if you want to play Boggle alone, this is probably the best way to do it, but that is about the only crowd I would recommend this title to.

Mega Man Legacy Collection is a solid collection of games that has a handful of technical issues that I understand being there, though my personal preference would have been to clean them up. The additional content and features do a great job of putting the bow on an already great package.

Cute, charming, happy to a fault and challenging, Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX is everything that you want to see in a great rhythm game.

Fans of the original Gears of War will enjoy visiting Sera one more time to play out humanity's last hope against the Locust.

Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 4: Escape Plan Bravo surprised me, avoiding some of the narrative traps that I have seen Telltale Games repeatedly fall into up to this point.

There have been only a few strategy games on consoles in recent years, and none have had the depth conveyed by Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence. The unique historical setting only further cements this title as one of my favourites on the PlayStation 4 to date.

People looking to play something immersive on their PCs should look elsewhere.

Volume deserves credit for being fresh and accessible, but after a couple of dozen levels or so, it starts to grow repetitive. It was easy to pick up the controller and play, but without a lot of new innovations and a middling storyline, it was also entirely too easy to take breaks and move onto something else.

If I could give Beyond Eyes more stars, I would. Rarely does a character emotion become so pronounced in my own being. When Rae was delighted, I’d laugh with excitement. When Rae was scared, I cowered alongside her. When Rae was upset I was quite literally found sobbing in the fetal position until the wave of emotion passed.

Danganronpa Another Episode ends up being an experiment that works, in taking the original games and doing something so completely different to them. It lacks the jump scares, monsters, and a significant difficulty level of the horror franchises that it aspires to be a part of, but is so unsettling is its narrative and vision that it is one of the most genuine, affecting horror games I have ever played.

It scratches my nostalgia for classic dungeon crawlers, while offering a stiff challenge, and stunning art work that, while I'll never play the game in public because of those pictures, I find to be both amusing and oddly charming.

The visuals and music deliver as always and it is great to see some more times spent on actually developing the story and fleshing out our three protagonists. However, in giving the heroes a better story, they somehow have even less to do in the game. Perhaps more frustratingly, the story is short and incomplete, making the game feel rushed or like the development team has unannounced DLC planned for down the road.

Steins;Gate has a deep and interesting story to tell and does so through characters worth investing in. The writing is excellent, the presentation folds seamlessly into the rest of the package and the game itself will stick with you long after you have reached its conclusion. It remains, years after its original release, one of the best visual novels available on any platform.

Until Dawn is a very, very fine game, with a quality, intriguing, and intelligent narrative rolled around the concept of player choice. It's also another example of why Sony is the best blockbuster publisher out there because it's happy to do stuff that breaks away from the safe conventions of expensive games.

BRAWL is a good, but not especially innovative, action game with a nice layer of strategy built into it.

Konami would do well in scouting out a new development team to handle the next Yu-Gi-Oh! game. With the last couple being workmanlike but unremarkable efforts, it's difficult to shake the feeling that without an overhaul the star of this particular CCG is only going to fade further. And that would be a pity, because the core card game remains one of the most strategic that we've ever seen.

Lost Dimension is an incredible title, with a constant sense of escalation and drama.

I doubt any digital poker game will be able to completely replace the real, physical game, but Pure Hold'em is nevertheless a truly special experience, and as premium poker games go, we won't see a better one than this for some time to come.

With time and patches, this could be a must play, but as it is I can only cautiously recommend RymdResa as a game with fascinating ideas and inconsistent execution.

There's a healthy number of items to unlock, characters to level and modes to play will keep you coming back for more. It's a pity then that it's burdened by some painful attempts to demand players throw in some extra cash for the DLC.

I think there's a seed of inspiration within the game that, given experience and a larger budget, gives it real potential. Unfortunately, as it stands, AeternoBlade is simply not competitive either on a technical or artistic level, and that is a real shame.

Hacknet is a beautiful example of compelling non-linear storytelling. While it is still a game about hacking, it is far more about solving the mystery around Bit's death using the tools he (she?) has given you. Combining an enthralling story with a truly impressive learning curve and a stellar soundtrack, Hacknet is definitely something special.

Namco Bandai was very smart to entrust their classic character and brand to this tiny team of Aussie mobile developers.

It doesn’t provide anything out of the ordinary or unexpected. And in the end, the platform it is available on did it more harm than good.

The Chinese Room has managed to create one of the most insightful, meaningful, and emotional games that we’ve seen in some time, perhaps forever, and bravo to Sony for taking a real punt with something so completely arthouse.

Duet's narrative may also be hinting at something touching or maybe perhaps a profound truth, but I'm afraid I may be missing the point or overlooking into things. But, as often is such the case with art games, maybe that's precisely the point here.

The game itself isn't an especially memorable one, but for fans of the anime, this version at least does them justice.

A great re-introduction to a new King’s Quest series. The beautiful scenery, the interesting characters, the unique and fascinating narrative all come together to create a heart-warming title anyone can enjoy.

One of the most beautiful games ever developed, and backs its aesthetics up with some of the finest Lovecraftian narratives that we've seen in interactive form. It's a compelling argument for games as art, in other words, and not just because it makes for some awesome digital postcards.

Fairy Fencer F probably will not gain the same kind of following that the more satirical Hyperdimension games have garnered over the years, but it is by all rights a solid effort that manages to surprise in pleasant ways while still providing some familiar mechanics that make the title approachable.

A decent game that's fun to play, but is even more fun if you have a friend or two that can play with you. The online play is smooth and there are some hidden things that can be unlocked like more difficulty levels and more characters.

Rare Replay's technical challenges on a handful of games stand as the only aspect that detracts from an otherwise outstanding collection of titles. With titles reaching back as far as 1983 and as recent as 2008, this is one diverse collection that promises a lot of fun around a variety of genres. Thirty games. Thirty bucks. It's pretty tough to top a collection like this.

What impressed me most about Submerged is that it never tries to be more than its concept. It set out to be a simple narrative-driven and emotional experience with a strong environmental message, and it achieves just that. With no unnecessary actions to distract those with limited attention spans it might be perceieved as "dull" by some, but in practice it's a reflective, mature, and artful work, and this here is where games should be going.

It's an improvement, but only a slight one in most ways. For people who haven't played it, however, Abyss Odyssey is one of the more underrated games in recent memory, and for people who believe in the concept of world games, it's essential.

And no matter how much I enjoyed this game, which I did, it was hard to play, because the visuals are so jarring. As such Velocibox is not for the faint hearted, or epileptic.

A resounding success as both an example of the genre and a homage to everything that makes it fun.

Just as Journey is a beautiful game, it has a beautiful heart, and that makes the ending (which I won't spoil, even though you really should have experienced it by now), all the more heart wrenching, but ultimately beautiful.

I shouldn't allow the presentation to bug me, but for Rory McIlroy, it does. Coupled with the limited range of play modes and a relatively shallow range of courses, and I was left with the impression that this game was certainly not EA Sport's focus this year.

Red Goddess a great experience. Utilising strong emotions such as joy, fear, and anger could have been done with far less elegance than this, and the act of using them all to investigate and recapture lost memories is a worthy, enjoyable experience.

If you're going to make a game where it's (apparently) possible to fail 1,000 times in a couple of minutes, then you need a really strong reason to do so, and Spectrum just doesn't make that case.

No matter how strong the writing is, or what it makes you feel, it’s ruined by those final few minutes at the end of the game. It felt as if the whole experience, whilst rather short, left me in an inconsequential role, like I was simply listening to an argument between two people in an elevator.

Lost Dimension was a commercial failure in Japan, and I can't see it finding a massive audience in the west. But it's worth a look as a solid, enjoyable tactics RPG, backed by some solid, albeit occasionally laboured storytelling. As a weekend buster, I can't really ask for more than that in a game.

These episodes have played out in roughly two hour chunks so far. It feels as though there are still numerous loose strings to be tied up. I cannot help but feel that although this next episode is meant to be the last, that we are also going to leave some questions unanswered as a setup for another season.

The world, puzzles, narrative and music are all served to the player in small helpings, never overwhelming and allowing you to soak in and become one with the world. By the end of the game, it has challenged your mind in multiple ways.

So unpredictable as the humour is that I found myself constantly surprised with the narrative that would pop up in response to the choices that I made in the game took me down a different narrative path towards a different ending, each more weird and wonderful than the last.

Zombie Army Trilogy is a culmination of things that are all done well, but not great.

Otherwise, BlazBlue remains the slick, fast, competitive and vibrant fighting game that we saw in previous versions.

The ability to have two to four players as well as online and local multiplayer rounds out a package that brings very few bells and whistles to the classic game of Scrabble.

It's a niche game, as all Slitherine projects are, but the publisher does have a deep understanding of what makes for a quality, deep, strategy game, and it has applied the same expertise to the tactics sub-genre with impressive results.

This War Of Mine plays well, is challenging, and is a very good game. It just also happens to be a very good piece of art.

While I have some issues with the way Deception IV explores its themes, it is nonetheless a very fine and entertaining game, and I can guarantee you that there is nothing else quite like it on the PlayStation 4.

Godzilla should be fertile material for a fun game, but the slow pacing and shallow controls hold it back, creating a repetitive experience that misses too many opportunities for me to recommend it to anyone but the most hardcore of Godzilla fans.

It has its charm and some good ideas running in the background, but these are offset by the game's more overt issues, and a taste for the surreal that will never be popular for the mainstream. That being said, while this game was not for me but it is just odd enough that it might work for you.

Tachyon Project does not reinvent the wheel for twin stick shooters, but it does add some creative new tread that allows it to feel familiar yet fresh at the same time. There are plenty of modes, challenges and customisations to try out, so fans of the genre should have plenty to keep them busy throughout their time with it.

Obviously I’m not the target audience, and sure there might be some kids that get a kick out of collecting figurines that resemble wizards and hot dog men, but I like to think the developer should have given a bit more credit to the target audience. The other LEGO games all manage to be child-friendly without being insulting to everyone else in the process.

Spectra reminds me a great deal of Audiosurf, which is meant to be high praise as I have spent a lot of hours with both games in that franchise. However, while the soundtrack provided in Spectra is an excellent one, the inability to import more music of your own choosing and the lack of visual variety in the levels makes this title quite inferior.

Battle Fantasia has some ambition. Character variety is strong, and one or two characters are designed in such a way that spam attacks don't immediately overcome strategy, and are both fun to play with and against as a consequence. But there are too many negatives to encourage a purchase over other quality fighting games available now.

You’ll find nothing ground breaking in LEGO Jurassic World, but it is so rushed that I can only recommend looking at one of the many other LEGO games out there unless you're a massive fan of Jurassic Park.

There's a significant improvement to the visual engine over last year's game, and while it's still not the most beautiful racing title out there, the improvements in the engine have allowed F1 2015 to offer a greater sensation of speed, and that is at core what a racing game engine should be about.

Unfortunately, it’s not a very complete package largely alienates anyone who isn’t already familiar with fighters, making it a tough sell for people looking for a casual experience.

If you already owned Might Switch Force! for the Nintendo 3DS, the Hyper Drive Edition is somewhat more difficult to recommend. If you loved the title, then coming back to it just for the visual upgrade and the remixed levels will probably be worth the time investment. However, the remixed levels do not unlock until you beat the primary game, which means replaying essentially the same content as before.

While Astebreed may be short in length, it more than makes up for it with its anime styled storytelling and quality, fast, furious action. It's another classy little indie game on the PlayStation 4 that further enhances the console's value.

Part of me is agonising over every detail and wondering what – if anything – I missed, but that is already subsiding in the hours since I left that police station for the final time. I may be slowly coming to peace with what has happened, but the memories that Her Story created will last a lifetime. Her Story has become intertwined with mine.

Whispering Willows is a scary, scary game in a beautiful, beautiful world.

A good platformer with its mechanics even if the premise fell short. Every element worked in conjunction with each other, balancing out what would have been a dark and dismal adventure. The result wasn't a pure experience, perhaps, but it is a very playable one.

Final Fantasy XIV has genuinely developed into the best MMO on the market as far as I'm concerned, with its brilliant post-game content and now, with the additional Heavensward content, the best is just getting better. This game is a compelling argument for the continued validity of the subscription model for MMOs.

J-Stars Victory VS is very playable. But, when you consider that the entire purpose of this game's existence is to act as fan service, the fact that it fails to offer the kind of fan service that would have had fans clamouring for it is incredibly disappointing.

Never before has there been a game that makes you feel so warm and fuzzy when you fail your task.